water

All week long we've been playingthis sound, and asking you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it.

This auditory guessing game is part of Audiograph, a crowd-sourced collaborative radio project mapping the sonic signature of each of the Bay Area’s nine counties. By using the sounds of voices, nature, industry, and music, Audiograph tells the story of where you live, and the people who live there with you. Every Thursday, we reveal the origins of that week's sound on Crosscurrents, and here in weekly blog posts.

On the November 12th, 2014 edition of Your Call, we’re discussing the current state of the drought. A dozen communities across the state are at risk of running out of water, and at least 700 households already lack access to running water. Farmers have left nearly a half-million acres of land unplanted. How will new groundwater regulations and Proposition 1 impact water usage? What do you want to know about the drought? Is it affecting your area? It’s Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

On the August 7th, 2014 edition of Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the most severe drought in California's history. Nearly 60 percent of the state is in exceptional drought. Groundwater reserves are being depleted at record rates as wildfires break out north and south. What can the media and governments do to increase understanding of the severity of this drought? What is the state doing to conserve water, and how much is left? Join us on the next Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

On the July 23rd, 2014 edition of Your Call, we’ll have a conversation with biologist Wallace Nichols about his new book, Blue Mind. Nichols explores how we are beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight and even heal what’s broken. What do we need to know about the power of water? On the next Your Call, with Rose Aguilar.

Guests:

Wallace Nichols, scientist, wild water advocate, community organizer and author

Reveal 3, the latest pilot from the Peabody Award-winning program produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX.

In this episode: an investigation into accidents and equipment failures in the military; a collaborative investigation into US water standards; and another in CIR's series of investigations into the treatment of military veterans.

Two days ago, the San Francisco skyline was covered in thick black smoke. It came from a fire that tore through a construction site in the Mission Bay neighborhood.

Tuesday’s five alarm fire was the biggest the city has seen since 2012. Ultimately, 150 firefighters responded, with almost 50 vehicles, and they used a lot of water.

KALW’s Ben Trefny spoke with Mindy Talmidge, the Public Information Officer at the San Francisco Fire Department, to get a sense of how they take on a blaze this big, where the water had to come from, and and how much water it took to fight it.

As California faces an extreme drought, water politics are under a microscope now more than ever. Oakland-based Pacific Institute is a leader in research on the impacts of climate change on water. Its director, Peter Gleick, was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water resources.

Even though 38 million Californians cook, clean and bathe with water, the Central Valley is still the largest user by far, taking up 75 percent of the state's water supply. Gleick sat down with KALW's Ben Trefny to decipher the state's water issues.